Seeing The Supreme Lord

Once, Sri Madhavendra Puri traveled to Vrndavana, the holy place where Lord Krishna spent His childhood. There he came upon the hill known as Govardhana. This hill was very important to Krishna and the cowherd boys because it provided such nice grass for their cows.

When Madhavendra Puri saw Govardhana hill it reminded him of Krishna and His pastimes and he became almost mad in his ecstasy of love of Godhead, and he did not know whether it was day or night. Sometimes he stood up, and sometimes he fell on the ground. He could not discriminate whether he was in a proper place or not.

After walking around the hill, Madhavendra Puri went to Govinda-kunda and took his bath. He then sat beneath a tree to take his evening rest. While he was sitting beneath the tree an unknown cowherd boy came with a pot of milk. He placed it before Madhavendra Puri and smilingly addressed him as follows: “Please drink the milk I have brought. Why don’t you beg some food to eat? What kind of meditation are you undergoing?” When he saw the beauty of that boy Madhavendra Puri became very satisfied. Hearing His sweet words, he forgot all hunger and thirst. Madhavendra Puri said: “Who are You? Where do You reside? And how did You know that I was fasting?” The boy replied, “Sir, I am a cowherd boy, and I reside in this village. In My village no one fasts. In this village a person can beg food from others and thus eat. Some people drink only milk, but if a person does not ask anyone for food I supply him all his eatables. The women who come here to take water saw you, and they supplied Me with this milk and sent Me to you.” The boy continued: “I must go very soon to milk the cows, but I shall return and take back this milk pot from you.” Saying this the boy left the place. Indeed, He suddenly could be seen no more, and Madhavendra Puri’s heart was filled with wonder.

After drinking the milk, Madhavendra Puri washed the pot and put it aside. He looked toward the path, but the boy never returned. Madhavendra Puri could not sleep. He sat and chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and at the end of the night he dozed a little, and his external activities stopped. In a dream he saw the very same boy. The boy came before him and, holding his hand, took him to a bush in the jungle. The boy showed Madhavendra Puri the bush and said: “I reside in this bush, and because of this I suffer very much from severe cold, rain showers, winds and scorching heat. Please bring the people of the village and get them to take me out of this bush. Then have them situate me nicely on the top of the hill. Please construct a temple on the top of the hill,” the boy continued, “and install Me in that temple. After this wash Me with large quantities of cold water so that My body may be cleansed.

For many days I have been observing you, and I have been wondering, ‘When will Madhavendra Puri come here to serve Me?’ I have accepted your service due to your ecstatic love for Me. Thus I shall appear, and by My audience all fallen souls will be delivered. My name is Gopala. I am the lifter of Govardhana Hill. I was installed by Vajra and here I am the authority. When the Mohammedans attacked, the priest who was serving Me hid Me in this bush in the jungle. Then he ran away out of fear of the attack. Since the priest went away I have been staying in this bush. It is very good that you have come here. Now just remove Me with care.” After saying this the boy disappeared. Then Madhavendra Puri woke up and began to consider his dream. He began to lament: “I saw Lord Krishna directly but I could not recognise Him!” Thus he fell down on the ground in ecstatic love. Madhavendra Puri cried for some time but then he fixed his mind on executing the order of Gopala thus he became tranquil.

After taking his morning bath Madhavendra Puri entered the village and assembled all the people. Then he said: “The proprietor of this village, Govardhana-dhari, is lying in the bushes. Let us go there and rescue Him from that place. The bushes are very dense and we will not be able to enter the jungle. Therefore take choppers and spades to clear the way.

After hearing this all the people accompanied Madhavendra Puri with great pleasure. According to his directions they cut down bushes, cleared a path and entered the jungle. When they saw the Deity covered with dirt and grass they were all struck with wonder and pleasure. After they cleansed the body of the Deity some of them said: “The Deity is very heavy. No one person can move Him.” Therefore some of the stronger men assembled there to carry Him to the top of the hill.

A big stone was made into a throne and the Deity was installed upon it. Another big stone was placed behind the Deity for support. All the brahmana priests of the village gathered together with nine waterpots and water from Govinda-kunda lake was brought there and filtered. When the Deity was being installed nine hundred pots of water were brought from Govinda-kunda. There were musical sounds of bugles and drums and the singing of women.

During the festival at the installation ceremony some people sang and some danced. All the milk, yogurt and clarified butter in the village was brought to the festival. Various foods and sweets as well as other kinds of presentations were brought there. I am unable to describe all these. The villagers brought a large quantity of tulasi leaves, flowers and various kinds of garments. Then Sri Madhavendra Puri personally began the abihiseka [bathing ceremony]. After all inauspicious things were driven away by the chanting of the mantra the Deity’s bathing ceremony started. First the Deity was massaged with a large quantity of oil so that His body became very glossy. After the body of the Deity was cleansed He was dressed very nicely with new garments. Then sandalwood pulp, tulasi garlands and other fragrant flower garlands were placed upon the body of the Deity. After the bathing ceremony was finished incense and lamps were burned and all kinds of food offered before the Deity. These foods included yogurt, milk and as many sweets as were received. The Deity was first offered many varieties of food, then scented drinking water in new pots and then water for washing the mouth. Finally pan mixed with a variety of spices was offered. After the last offering boga-aratrika was performed. Finally everyone offered various prayers and then obeisances, falling flat before the Deity in full surrender.

As soon as the people of the village had understood that the Deity was going to be installed they had brought their entire stock of rice, dhal and wheat flower. They brought such large quantities that the entire surface of the top of the hill was filled. The potters of the village brought all kinds of cooking pots and in the morning the cooking began. Ten brahmans cooked the food grains and five brahmans cooked both dry and liquid vegetables. The vegetable preparations were made from various kinds of spinach and roots and fruits collected from the forest. Someone had made bada and badi by mashing dhal. In this way all the brahmanas prepared all kinds of food. Five to seven men prepared a huge quantity of chappatis [flat bread] which were sufficiently covered with ghee [clarified butter], as were all the vegetables, rice and dhal.

All the cooked rice was stacked on palasa leaves which were on new cloths spread over the ground. Around the stack of cooked rice were stacks of chappatis and all the vegetables and liquid vegetable preparations were placed in different pots and put around them. Pots of yogurt, milk, buttermilk and sikharini, sweet rice, cream and solid cream were placed alongside the vegetables. In this way the Annakuta ceremony was performed and Madhavendra Puri Gosvami personally offered everything to Gopala. Many water pots were filled with scented water for drinking and Lord Sri Gopala, who had been hungry for many days, ate everything offered to Him. Although Sri Gopala ate everything offered, still, by the touch of His transcendental hand, everything remained as before. How Gopala ate everything while the food remained the same was transcendentally perceived by Madhavendra Puri Gosvami; nothing remains a secret to the devotees of the Lord.

The wonderful festival and installation of Sri Gopalaji was arranged in one day. Certainly all this was accomplished by the potency of Gopala. No one but a devotee can understand this.

Madhavendra Puri offered water to Gopala for washing His mouth and he gave Him betel nuts to chew. Then, while arati was performed, all the people chanted, “Jaya, jaya!” [All glories to Gopala]. To arrange for the Lord’s rest Sri Madhavendra Puri brought a new cot and over this he spread a new bedspread and thus made the bed ready. A temporary temple was constructed by covering the bed all around with a straw mattress. Thus there was a bed and a straw mattress to cover it. After the Lord was laid down to rest on the bed Madhavendra Puri gathered all the brahmanas who had prepared the prasada and said to them: “Now feed everyone sumptuously from the children up to the old-aged!” All the people gathered there sat down to honour the prasada, and by and by they took food. All the brahmans and their wives were fed first. Not only did the people of Govardhana Village take prasada, but also those who came from other villages. They also saw the Deity of Gopala and were offered prasada to eat.

Seeing the influence of Madhavendra Puri all the people gathered there were struck with wonder. They saw the Annakuta ceremony, which had been performed during the time of Krishna, was now taking place again by the mercy of Sri Madhavendra Puri.

All the brahmanas present on that occasion were initiated by Madhavendra Puri as Vaisnavas and he engaged them in different types of service.

When it was advertised throughout the country that Lord Gopala had appeared atop Govardhana Hill all the people from neighbouring villages came to see the Deity. One village after another was pleased to beg Madhavendra Puri to allot them one day to perform the Annakuta ceremony. Thus day after day the Annakuta ceremony was performed for some time.

The ideal place to execute Krishna consciousness is Vrajabhumi, or Vrndavana, where people are naturally inclined to love Krishna and Krishna is naturally inclined to love them. Throngs of people came from different villages to see the Deity of Gopala and they took maha-prasada sumptuously. When they saw the superexcellent form of Lord Gopala all their lamentation and unhappiness disappeared. All the villagers in the neighbouring Vrajabhumi [Vrndavana] became aware of the appearance of Gopala, and all the people from these villages came to see Him. Day after day they performed the Annakuta ceremony. In this way not only the neighbouring villages but all the other provinces came to know of Gopala’s appearance.

Thus people came from all over bringing a variety of presentations. The people of Mathura, who are very big capitalists, also brought various presentations and offered them before the Deity in devotional service. Thus countless presentations of gold, silver, garments, scented articles and eatables arrived. The store of Gopala increased daily. One very rich ksatriya of the royal order constructed a temple, someone made cooking utensils and someone constructed boundary walls. Each and every family residing in the land of Vrajabhumi contributed one cow. In this way thousands of cows became the property of Gopala. Eventually two brahmanas in the renounced order arrived from Bengal and Madhavendra Puri, who liked them very much, kept them in Vrndavana and gave them all comforts. These two were then initiated by Madhavendra Puri and he entrusted them with the daily service of the Lord. This service was performed continuously and the worship of the Deity became very gorgeous. Thus Madhavendra Puri was very pleased.

This is the way to install the Deity, construct the temple and increase the property of the temple. Everyone should be enthusiastic to contribute to the construction of the temple for the Deity, and everyone should also contribute food for the distribution of prasada. The devotees should preach the gospel of devotional service and thus engage the people in practical service to the Deity. Wealthy people can also be attracted to take part in these activities. In this way everyone will become spiritually inclined, and the entire society will be converted to Krishna consciousness. The desire to satisfy the material senses will automatically diminish and the senses will become so purified that they will be able to engage in bhakti [devotional service to the Lord] Hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate. By serving the Lord one’s senses are gradually purified. The engagement of one’s purified senses in the service of Lord Hrsikesa is called bhakti. When the dormant propensity for bhakti is awakened one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is. Bhaktya mam abijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah. (Bg. 18.55) This is the process of giving humanity the chance to awaken Krishna consciousness. Thus people can perfect their lives in all respects.

One who hears this narration with faith and devotion attains the treasure of love of Godhead at the lotus feet of Sri Krishna. Praying at the lotus feet of Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunatha, always desiring their mercy, I, Krishnadasa, narrate Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, following in their footsteps.

(from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila, Forth Chapter)

SHANKARA: India’s Greatest Impersonalist Meditated on Lord Krishna

Srila Prabhupada chastises impersonalist yogis and swamis, the nominal followers of the ninth-century teacher Sankara, in this commentary on Sankara’s Meditation on the Bhagavad Gita: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Whereas Sankara, the greatest of the impersonalists, offers his due respects to Krishna and His book Bhagavad Gita, the foolish say that we need not surrender to the personal Krishna.

–1–
O Bhagavad-gita,
Through Thy eighteen chapters
Thou showerest upon man
The immortal nectar
Of the wisdom of the Absolute.
O blessed Gita,
By Thee, Lord Krsna Himself
Enlightened Arjuna.
Afterward, the ancient sage Vyasa
Included Thee in the Mahabharata.
O loving mother,
Destroyer of man’s rebirth
Into the darkness of this mortal world,
Upon Thee I meditate.
–2–
Salutations to thee, O Vyasa.
Thou art of mighty intellect,
And thine eyes
Are large as the petals
Of the full-blown lotus.
It was thou
Who brightened this lamp of wisdom,
Filling it with the oil
Of the Mahabharata. 

Purport

Sripada Sankaracarya was an impersonalist from the materialistic point of view. But he never denied the spiritual form known as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, or the eternal, all-blissful form of knowledge that existed before the material creation. When he spoke of Supreme Brahman as impersonal, he meant that the Lord’s sac-cid-ananda form was not to be confused with a material conception of personality. In the very beginning of his commentary on the Gita, he maintains that Narayana, the Supreme Lord, is transcendental to the material creation. The Lord existed before the creation as the transcendental personality, and He has nothing to do with material personality. Lord Krsna is the same Supreme Personality, and He has no connection with a material body. He descends in His spiritual, eternal form, but foolish people mistake His body to be like ours. Sankara’s preaching of impersonalism is especially meant for teaching foolish persons who consider Krsna to be an ordinary man composed of matter.

No one would care to read the Gita if it had been spoken by a material man, and certainly Vyasadeva would not have bothered to incorporate it into the history of the Mahabharata. According to the above verses, Mahabharata is the history of the ancient world, and Vyasadeva is the writer of this great epic. The Bhagavad-gita is identical with Krsna; and because Krsna is the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no difference between Krsna and His words. Therefore the Bhagavad-gita is as worshipable as Lord Krsna Himself, both being absolute. One who hears the Bhagavad-gita “as is” actually hears the words directly from the lotus lips of the Lord. But unfortunate persons say that the Gita is too antiquated for the modern man, who wants to find out God by speculation or meditation.

–3–
I salute Thee, O Krsna,
O Thou who art the refuge
Of ocean-born Laksmi
And all who take refuge
At Thy lotus feet.
Thou art indeed
The wish-fulfilling tree
For Thy devotee.
Thy one hand holds a staff
For driving cows,
And Thy other hand is raised–
The thumb touching the tip
Of Thy forefinger,
Indicating divine knowledge.
Salutations to Thee, O Supreme Lord,
For Thou art the milker
Of the ambrosia of the Gita.

           Purport

Sripada Sankaracarya explicitly says, “You fools, just worship Govinda and that Bhagavad-gita spoken by Narayana Himself,” yet foolish people still conduct their research work to find out Narayana; consequently they are wretched, and they waste their time for nothing. Narayana is never wretched nor daridra; rather, He is worshiped by the goddess of fortune, Laksmi, as well as by all living entities. Sankara declared himself to be “Brahman,” but he admits Narayana, or Krsna, to be the Supreme Personality who is beyond the material creation. He offers his respects to Krsna as the Supreme Brahman, or Parabrahman, because He (Krsna) is worshipable by everyone. Only the fools and enemies of Krsna, who cannot understand what the Bhagavad-gita is (though they make commentaries on it), say, “It is not the personal Krsna to whom we have to surrender ourselves utterly, but the unborn, beginningless Eternal who speaks through Krsna.” Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Whereas Sankara, the greatest of the impersonalists, offers his due respects to Krsna and His book the Bhagavad-gita, the foolish say that “we need not surrender to the personal Krsna.” Such unenlightened people do not know that Krsna is absolute and that there is no difference between His inside and outside. The difference of inside and outside is experienced in the dual, material world. In the absolute world there is no such difference, because in the absolute everything is spiritual (sac-cid-ananda), and Narayana, or Krsna, belongs to the absolute world. In the absolute world there is only the factual personality, and there is no distinction between body and soul.

–4–
The Upanisads
Are as a herd of cows,
Lord Krsna, son of a cowherd,
Is their milker,
Arjuna is the calf,
The supreme nectar of the Gita
Is the milk,
And the wise man
Of purified intellect
Is the drinker. 

Purport

Unless one understands spiritual variegatedness, one cannot understand the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. In the Brahma-samhita it is said that Krsna’s name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage, and paraphernalia are all ananda-cinmaya-rasa–in short, everything of His transcendental association is of the same composition of spiritual bliss, knowledge, and eternity. There is no end to His name, form, etc., unlike in the material world, where all things have their end. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, only fools deride Him; whereas it is Sankara, the greatest impersonalist, who worships Him, His cows, and His pastimes as the son of Vasudeva and pleasure of Devaki.

–5–
Thou son of Vasudeva,Destroyer of the demons Kamsa and Canura,Thou supreme bliss of Mother Devaki,O Thou, guru of the universe,Teacher of the worlds,Thee, O Krsna, I salute.

          Purport

Sankara describes Him as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Does he mean thereby that he is worshiping an ordinary, material man? He worships Krsna because he knows that Krsna’s birth and activities are all supernatural. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.9), Krsna’s birth and activities are mysterious and transcendental, and therefore only the devotees of Krsna can know them perfectly. Sankara was not such a fool that he would accept Krsna as an ordinary man and at the same time offer Him all devotional obeisances, knowing Him as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. According to the Bhagavad-gita, only by knowing the transcendental birth and activities of Krsna can one attain liberation by acquiring a spiritual form like Krsna’s. There are five different kinds of liberation. One who merges into the spiritual auras of Krsna, known as the impersonal Brahman effulgence, does not fully develop his spiritual body. But one who fully develops his spiritual existence becomes an associate of Narayana or Krsna in different spiritual abodes. One who enters into the abode of Narayana develops a spiritual form exactly like Narayana’s (four-handed), and one who enters into the highest spiritual abode of Krsna, known as Goloka Vrndavana, develops a spiritual form of two hands like Krsna’s. Sankara, as an incarnation of Lord Siva, knows all these spiritual existences, but he did not disclose them to his then Buddhist followers because it was impossible for them to know about the spiritual world. Lord Buddha preached that void is the ultimate goal, so how could his followers understand spiritual variegatedness? Therefore Sankara said, brahma satyam jagan mithya, or, material variegatedness is false but spiritual variegatedness is fact. In the Padma Purana Lord Siva has admitted that he had to preach the philosophy of maya, or illusion, in the Kali-yuga as another edition of the “void” philosophy of Buddha. He had to do this by the order of the Lord for specific reasons. He disclosed his real mind, however, by recommending that people worship Krsna, for no one can be saved simply by mental speculations composed of word jugglery and grammatical maneuvers. Sankara further instructs:

bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
bhaja govindam mudha-mate
samprapte sannihite kale
na hi na hi raksati dukrn-karane

“You intellectual fools, just worship Govinda, just worship Govinda, just worship Govinda. Your grammatical knowledge and word jugglery will not save you at the time of death.”

–6–
Of that terrifying river
Of the battlefield of Kuruksetra
Over which the Pandavas victoriously crossed,
Bhisma and Drona were as the high banks,
Jayadratha as the river’s water,
The King of Gandhara the blue water-lily,
Salya the shark, Krpa the current,
Karna the mighty waves,
Asvatthama and Vikarna the dread alligators,
And Duryodhana the very whirlpool–
But Thou, O Krsna, wast the ferryman!
–7–

May the spotless lotus of the Mahabharata
That grows on the waters
Of the words of Vyasa
And of which the Bhagavad-gita
Is the irresistibly sweet fragrance
And its tales of heroes
The full-blown petals
Fully opened by the talk of Lord Hari,
Who destroys the sins
Of Kali-yuga,
And on which daily light
The nectar-seeking souls,
As so many bees
Swarming joyously–
May this lotus of the Mahabharata
Bestow on us the highest good.

–8–
Salutations to Lord Krsna
The embodiment of supreme bliss,
By whose grace and compassion
The dumb become eloquent
And the lame scale mountains–
Him I salute!

Purport

Foolish followers of foolish speculators cannot understand the meaning of offering salutations to Lord Krsna, the embodiment of bliss. Sankara himself offered his salutations to Lord Krsna so that some of his intelligent followers might understand the real fact by the example set by their great master, Sankara, the incarnation of Lord Siva. But there are many obstinate followers of Sankara who refuse to offer their salutations to Lord Krsna and instead mislead innocent persons by injecting materialism into the Bhagavad-gita and confusing innocent readers by their commentaries, and consequently the readers never have the opportunity to become blessed by offering salutations to Lord Krsna, the cause of all causes. The greatest disservice to humanity is to keep mankind in darkness about the science of Krsna, or Krsna consciousness, by distorting the sense of the Gita.

–9–
Salutations to that supreme shining one
Whom the creator Brahma, Varuna,
Indra, Rudra, Marut, and all divine beings
Praise with hymns,
Whose glories are sung
By the verses of the Vedas,
Of whom the singers of Sama sing
And of whose glories the Upanisads
Proclaim in full choir,
Whom the yogis see
With their minds absorbed
In perfect meditation,
And of whom all the hosts
Of gods and demons
Know not the limitations.
To Him, the Supreme God, Krsna, be all salutations–
Him we salute! Him we salute! Him we salute!

           Purport

By recitation of the ninth verse of his meditation, quoted from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sankara has indicated that Lord Krsna is worshipable by one and all, including himself. He gives hints to materialists, impersonalists, mental speculators, “void” philosophers, and all other candidates subjected to the punishment of material miseries–just offer salutations to Lord Krsna, who is worshiped by Brahma, Siva, Varuna, Indra, and all other demigods. He has not mentioned, however, the name of Visnu, because Visnu is identical with Krsna. The Vedas and the Upanisads are meant for understanding the process by which one can surrender unto Krsna. The yogis try to see Him (Krsna) within themselves by meditation. In other words, it is for all the demigods and demons who do not know where the ultimate end is that Sankara teaches, and he especially instructs the demons and the fools to offer salutations to Krsna and His words, the Bhagavad-gita, by following in his footsteps. Only by such acts will the demons be benefited, not by misleading their innocent followers by so-called mental speculations or show-bottle meditations. Sankara directly offers salutations to Krsna, as if to show the fools, who are searching after light, that here ls light like the sun. But the fallen demons are like owls that will not open their eyes on account of their fear of the sunlight itself. These owls will never open their eyes to see the sublime light of Krsna and His words the Bhagavad-gita. They will, however, comment on the Gita with their closed owl-eyes to mislead their unfortunate readers and followers. Sankara, however, discloses the light to his less intelligent followers and shows that the Bhagavad-gita and Krsna are the only source of light. This is all to teach the sincere seekers of truth to offer salutation to Lord Krsna and thus surrender unto Him without misgivings. That is the highest perfection of life, and that is the highest teaching of Sankara, the great learned scholar whose teachings drove the voidist philosophy of Buddha out of India, the land of knowledge. Om tat sat.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

SHAIVISM - Sanatana Dharma

KEY SCRIPTURE: Saiva Agamas, Vedas

SCHOOLS: Saiva Siddhanta, Pashupati Shaivism, Kashmir Shaivism, Veera Shaivism, Siddha Siddhanta and Siva Advaita.

Synopsis

Shaivism declares God Shiva is Love, He is both immanent and transcendent Creator and the creation. This world is the scene of our evolution, which gradually leads to moksha - liberation from birth and death. Aum.

Shaivism is a unique religion in which God manifested and unmanifested, and dual and nedvoystven, within us and outside of us. This religion is not strictly pantheistic, monotheistic or polytheistic. Its fundamental theology known as monistic theism, panentheism or Advaita ishvaravada. Monism, dualism, in contrast, is a study of reality as a unified whole existence without independent parts. Theism is the belief in God and the gods as immanent and transcendent. Shaivism monistic in their belief in one reality and hell-vayticheskoe unity of man and reality. Shaivism teistichen in their faith in the gods, and Lord Shiva as a loving personal God, the immanent world. Shaivism expresses the unity of the Party-Pasha Pasha (God-soul-world) covers non-dual and dual, faithfully carries both Vedanta and Siddhanta, clean Sanatama Dharma Vedas and Saiva Agamas. "Tirumantiram" states: "Suddha-Saiva (net Saivites) meditate on the following on his religious path: your Self, the Absolute Reality and the Primal Soul, on the trinity of God, the soul and the shackles of Maya, a clean release and all that binds the soul. " Aum Namah Shivaya.


The objectives of Shaivism

The primary goal of Shaivism is the awareness of its identity with Shiva - in perfect union and invisibility. This condition is called nirvikalpa samadhi, Self-realization, and can be achieved in this life. This ensures moksha, liberation from the eternal cycle of birth and death. Intermediate target is savikalpa samadhi, the realization of Sachchidananda experience of unity with the super-consciousness, which are learned perfect Truth, Knowledge and Bliss. Every soul is ultimately destined vishvagrasa, complete solution in the God Shiva.


Ways to achieve

The path of enlightenment is naturally divided into four stages: charya - virtue and selfless service; Kriya - Sadhana, yoga - meditation under the guidance of a guru and Jnana - the state of the wisdom of a realized soul. Aum.

Charya, kriya, yoga and jnana are a sequence of evolution of the soul, like the natural development of a butterfly from egg to caterpillar, from caterpillar to chrysalis and then the final transformation into a butterfly. This four pads, or stages through which every human soul must pass over many reincarnations to achieve the ultimate goal. Before reaching this stage of spiritual soul is dissolved in a low-marginal nature anava or egocentric way, limited by fear and lust, painful malice, jealousy, confusion, selfishness, ignorance and anger. Then the soul wakes up, reaching a state of charya, selfless religious service or karma yoga. Having developed in chare, the soul enters the state of the kriyas - worship, or bhakti-yoga, and finally blooms, reaching a state of Kundalini Yoga. Jnana - a state of enlightened wisdom, reached at the end of the path as a result of Self-realization. Four pads are not alternative paths, but progressive phases constituting one path - San Marga. "Tirumantiram" says: "A great worship Jnana - life is life. The vision of the light of life is the great worship yoga. The giving of life by calling for the worship of God is the exterior. The expression of adoration is charya. " We Aum oh Shivaya


Six schools of Shaivism 
(Satguru Swami Shivaya Subramuniya )

1. Saiva Siddhanta2. Pashupati Shaivism3. Kashmir Shaivism4. Veera Shaivism5. Siddha Siddhanta6. Siva Advaita

In search of peace, enlightenment and liberation can not find a more tolerant, more mysterious, more advanced or more ancient ways than Shaivite Hinduism. During its long history of Shaivism has generated a lot of lines and spiritual traditions, each of which has unique philosophical and cultural-linguistic character, and up to 1100 dominated the whole of India, from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka, on the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. In this section, we present the main features of the six main traditions that stand out in the context of modern Shaivism. This Saiva Siddhanta, Pashupati Shaivism, Kashmir Shaivism, Veera Shaivism, Siddha Siddhanta and Siva Advaita. should be borne in mind that this is a formal and somewhat intelligent unit, as would be helpful it may be, can in no way be any exhaustive description of Shaivism, or even the only possible list of its traditions. Real Shaivism is much richer and more varied than is assumed by the scheme.

There is, for example, a kind of Shaivism who practice thirteen million people in Nepal, three million in Indonesia or fifty-five million induizirovannyh Javanese who worship Shiva named Batara. Think also about the millions of smarts and other universalists who took Ganesha, Shiva or Lord Murugan as their chosen deity, or the many fans Ayappana who commit worship in South Indian shrines of Lord Muruga. This is not to lose sight of the fact that only a handful of the millions of followers of Shiva Kashmir formally associate themselves with the school, which is called the "Kashmir Shaivism." Similarly, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Shiva is worshiped more than fifty million people, only a well-informed minority calls itself the Saiva siddhantinami. Our discussion of these six schools and their traditions are based on historical information. In historical records, there are significant gaps, but at every moment when the past raises the curtain in front of us, we can see that the worship of Shiva is present. In the Indus Valley 8000 years ago did the press, which was depicted as Lord Shiva Pashupati, sitting in yogic posture. In the "Ramayana", which dates back to 2000 astronomical methods E's. BC. e., Lord Rama worshiped Lord Shiva as his enemy Ravana. In the "Mahabharata", dating from about 1300-mi's. BC. e., we again encounter the worship of Shiva. Buddha was born in BC. e. Saiva in the family, and the historical records of the time talking about the Saiva ascetics who wandered over the hills and looked much the same as today. basis of all schools of Shaivism are the Saiva Agamas. The philosophy of these Agam - theistic, ie Shiva appears in them by God Almighty, immanent and transcendent at the same time accepting the worship of God as a personal and attainable through yoga.

This theistic concept runs through all schools. From a philosophical point of view agamicheskaya tradition includes the following basic doctrines: 1) the five energies or favors, Shiva, creation, preservation, destruction, concealment and revelation, and 2) three categories: Pati, Pasha and Pasha - God, soul and bonds, and 3) three types of bonds: anava, karma and maya, and 4) the triple energy of Shiva - iccha-, jnana and kriya shakti 5) thirty six tattvas, or categories of being, from the five elements of matter to God, and 6) the need to initiate and Satguru 7) power mantras, 8) four pods: charya, kriya, yoga and jnana. examining individual schools and lines the inside of Shaivism, keep in mind that they all adhere to these teachings. Our discussion will, quite naturally, focused on the differences between the schools, but the differences should not overshadow the impressive similarities that exist both in faith and practice. At the Saiva Agamas are and monism and dualism, and intermediate philosophy. Therefore, different schools may stand on different philosophical platform and thus all - rely on Agama.

The tradition of Kashmir Shaivism says that Shiva revealed different philosophies people of different mind-set, so that everyone can move forward on the spiritual path to the recognition of inner unity of man and God. At that very few of the followers of Shiva presently or in the past has been directly familiar with the Agama. Reading and writing was the prerogative of specially trained scribes, and even today Agama remain basically the same leaves Olam, in which they were handed down from generation to generation. Agamicheskaya philosophy and practice of the average person is transmitted through other channels, one of which is the Saiva Purana. These collections of oral traditions about the life of the gods imbued agamicheskoy philosophy. For example, "Shiva Purana" proclaims: "Shiva is the great Atman, for He is the Self of all, He is always endowed with great qualities. Devotee should realize that Shiva is identical to himself," I - only Shiva. '" second channel agamicheskoy philosophy - is Saiva temple, as the device of temples and performing temple rituals are set precisely in Agamas, in fact, it is one of the most important topics Agam. Priests are special guidelines (paddhati), which summarizes all the instructions for worship contained in the Saiva Agamas.

The third channel - these are songs and bhajans Saiva saints that "for all its simplicity, are powerful philosophical content. Channel Four - is continuous oral teachings of the guru, Swami, pundits, Shastri, priests and elders. So, Shaivism is not a single hierarchical system . Rather it is a collection of thousands of traditions, big and small. Some of them - the traditions of orthodox and pious, others - iconoclastic, and others - for example, Kapalika and aghori - rigidly ascetic, eccentric and orgiastic. For some, Shiva is a powerful, fearsome, terrifying destroyer but for the majority of He - embodied love, compassionate and gentle God. And for almost all of the millions of devotees of Shiva Shaivism - this is not a school of philosophy, and life itself. They just love to Shiva and to be honored traditions of their families and communities. These people visit temples and celebrate turning points in the life of the Holy Sacrament. They make pilgrimages, doing daily prayers, practice meditation and yogic discipline. They sing sacred hymns, listen to stories from the Puranas and repeat verses from the scriptures.

Today, all six schools of Shaivism, in one form or another, continue to exist. Their leaders and gurus reincarnated, pick up the threads of the past and stretch them in the twenty-first century. Seekers who worship Shiva, carefully choose a school. Guru - a dedicated, profane or self-appointed spiritual forces that within them - proclaim God Almighty God Shiva and adjacent to a particular Saiva line. Neinduisty raised profound philosophy of Shaivism, serve as volunteer missionaries. Many fully turned to Shaivism as a religion of their soul. In this modern era, in the late twentieth century, Shaivism gained new strength and power. School of Shaivism communicate with each other in love, kindness, compassion and understanding, share with each other their strength and the weaknesses of each other. Our supreme God Shiva knew that His creation is not the same. In a different mood, and at various times he has created different types of shower. Therefore, in His supreme wisdom, He created these six approaches to His grace on a common Vedic-agamicheskoy basis - one for yoga ascetics, one of the heroic nonconformists, one for the mystic kundalini, one for the astute philosopher, one of the immortal hermits and one for devotees nedualistov . No one has been forgotten. Indeed, today, Lord Shiva calls on the leaders from the ranks of supporters of the six philosophies preach His message in the sacred eloquence.

THE '' Aghori Sadhu ''

What kind of feelings does the word cannibalism arouses? Well most of us would get disgusted, but there are people who follow cannibalism in India even now.

Foreigners Meets to Aghori sadhus To know About them 

India land of oldest society, oldest civilization, but all this time in the Indian history there was a sect dedicated to Shiva was involved in cannibalism and other very crude animal behavior. The aghori or aghouri sect has its origin in ancient Vedic system, even though these people don’t follow the main stream Vedic system but the root is the same. The word aghori in Sanskrit means non terrifying, ‘a’-‘ghori’ most of the Hindi speaking people would have heard the phrase ghor kaliyug, ghor paap, etc.. it is the same ghor, theoretically these people don’t attach themselves to anything mortal. They do things which a common man finds to be terrifying, so they overcome this terror by going through it, since they do it regularly it is a common thing for them.

In Hinduism, “there is no evil, everything is emanated from ‘Brahman’, so how could anything in this universe be impure”? this is the kind of philosophy the aghori babas follow. According to them anything in this universe is the manifestation of god itself, so everything is as pure as god and is god like, so abandoning anything is like abandoning god itself.

The aghori mainly worship lord Shiva, according to the sect every human is a ‘shava’(dead body) with emotions and they should try to become ‘Shiva’ by denying the human pleasures and involving in the aghori rituals.

Ghauri Shankar Mishra an aghori
drinking liquor in a kapala(skull cup).

The root of aghoris are as old as Hinduism itself, but the sect in its present form has its origin in Kinaram, he was an aghori ascetic and lived for about 150yrs. He was believed to be the incarnation of lord Shiva. He attained many siddhis through tapas and rituals and then helped the people with his siddhis. There is a temple in Varanasi for this baba and is the most sacred for the aghoris. Some also trace the root to Dattatreya.

The aghori is a human symbol of lord Shiva himself. The aghori lives in cemetery (shmashana), the living place for lord Shiva, this is the representation that the final abode for everyone is the cemetery. And many of the aghoris roam around naked, representing the true humans and their detachment from this world of mortals who live in the world of illusion. By this they transcend beyond human feelings of love, hatred, jealousy, pride etc..

Bhola Giri Naga Baba blowing
 the Nagaphani.

There are many aghoris walking the streets of northern India with kapala(skull cup). These aghoris eat anything, when I said anything, it really meant anything like rotten food, food from the dumps, the animal faeces, animal urine.. etc they regularly perform rites(some are so crude that it cant be explained here) to attain the highest level in aghoratva, the enlightenment. The final part of the ritual requires a minimum of one eating of putrid human flesh, and also meditating on(sitting) the dead corpse. This is the symbolic of their rise from shava to Shiva. They follow the simple rule that the universe resides in them and they try to attain enlightenment by self realization.


As the ascetic advance in his search, he attains many siddhis. Slowly they gain control over the environment. They seem to posses powers to cause a rain or to stop one. This is disturbing but this is true, even though they possess this kind of powers they will not use it, for the basic rule of aghori itself is to deny human pleasure so the change in climate is an event which should happen on its own. Whatever the ascetic says happens, I have met people who have had direct relation with the ascetic, and I cannot question the veracity of the datas. It is also said that when he curses someone, every wish of the person comes true.

A place considered dreadful by others is home for Aghoris - The Hindu cremation ground! 

There have been many aghoris in the past. Some of them being Dattatreya, Kinaram, Tailanga swamy, Aghoreshwar Mahaprabhu Baba Bhagwan Ram.
Some stories

Tailanga swami

Tailanga Swami of Benaras was a very powerful Aghori, and perhaps the only one who performed worship of Shiva at the Kashi Vishwanath temple using his own filth. And Tailanga Swami could do so because he had full realization that filth is as much a part of the Universal Soul as roses, holy water etc. The priest who saw Tailanga Swami doing such "dirty things" slapped him and ordered him out. But at the
same night, Shiva appeared in a dream to the king of Benaras and told the king about his anger since someone insulted Tailanga Swami, who's Shiva's very essence. The King then set out to find the priest and
punish him, but the priest was mysteriously found dead.


Dhuni wale baba
This refers to an incident which a man narrated to Ambar joshi about an Aghori Baba who lived in Burhanpur (near Khandwa,MP).This is what he narrated---There used to be an old Baba .People used to call him Dhuni wale baba. Now there is a samadhi of Dhune wale bab in Khandwa whre people still throng in large numbers to worship him.He used to stay ther and roamed the adjoining areas ,use to eat whatever came his way- rotten food or thrown away food .He used to utter obscenities if anyone talked to him or disturbed him even while he seemed to be doing nothing. He used to stare into the sky for hours and talk to himself. One day i saw a person come up to him and touch his feet and ask him to bless his daughter who had not been married in spite of their best efforts. The Baba uttered obscenities on him. Cursed his mother and family members and said that his daughter would go to hell. Then the man went away contented and after three days he came with some sweets and gave to the Baba who again uttered obscenities on him. I intercepted him on the way back and asked him why he respected a useless mad old man. The man remarked he is a great Baba and has cured many peoples problems. If he curses you then your problem is bound to get solved. Aghori Babas are like that he said and offered me a piece of burfi(An Indian sweet)which I gladly ate. Then I saw many other instances when the Baba uttered obscenities, people used to still go behind him even while he used to answer the call of nature. He used to throw his faeces all over people who came behind him and they used to collect it and take home as prasad.(holy).


Maldevata incident taken from ‘The Week’
Maldevta is a popular picnic spot near Dehra Dun. Thirst overtook us while trekking to Maldevta and we decided to ask for some water at a small thatched hut about a eight hundred scrubby hundred yards from the canal we were following. A dusky, well built man wearing a skimpy loin cloth emerged from the dark interior of the hut. Why, of course, we could have water, he answered. He didn't have that much left, just a couple of glasses, as he'd just finished cooking, but we were most welcome to it. Was this his permanent residence, we asked him conversationally? Oh no, he had no fixed place of stay. There was a cremation ground just a stone's thrown away, and he'd built this hut as he had been waiting for a lawaris body (homeless person's body which is generally cremated by a philanthropic organization or trust). As luck would have it, after waiting for some three months, such a body had arrived just yesterday, and he'd been able, in exchange for a good luck charm, to obtain the head of the dead man. In fact, he'd almost run out of water as he had used most of it for cooking the dead man's brain with some rice.

He brought out a blackened pot and showed us the contents. He'd already had one portion of it, and would have to space out eating the cooked brain and rice over the next three days. Repelled, chilled, yet curious, we asked him who he was. He was an aghori, he said, and Calcutta was his birthplace. After early initiation when he was just nine years old into Tantric Kali worship, he'd moved into other deeper sadhnas (disciplines), but always, it was with the forces of the dark. The rules and demands of the search for power in which he was now engaged ordained that he had to eat at least one human brain annually. Already, he had acquired the ability of divining the future. He could actually show us our future, in case we were interested. Why didn't we come in?

The Great Peacful Aghoris Symbol Of Lord shiva

Fascinated yet afraid that at this isolated spot we might end up becoming his annual meal, we left somewhat hastily, forgetting all our lessons in politeness. Over the next few days, I couldn't get the aghori out of my mind. When a brigadier and his wife came to seek a reading from the cards as they were in deep trouble with a court martial looming on the horizon, it gave me the opportunity to go back to the aghori, with the anxious brigadier and his wife in tow. After all, he had said he could show one the future. What better way of testing the claim ? He was still there, at the peak of his powers, he informed us, as he'd recently consumed the human brain. This time, we entered his hut and our eyes soon became accustomed to the dimness. The aghori requested us to sit, and as we sat cross-legged on the earthern floor, placed a lota (container) of water before us. "Look into the water" he commanded. And in the water, we saw the brigadier, older, dressed in civilian clothes. After several sequences, we saw the brigadier with the Supreme Court clearly visible in the background, and he was wearing a dark blue suit and distributing sweets to a group of people who were with him.

Some months after this amazing incident, the brigadier wanted to take a friend to meet the aghori, but when we reached there we found the hut in a sad state : it was just a bundle of grass and straw and twigs strewn on the ground. Enquiries at the cremation ground revealed that the aghori had been driven away by irate residents of Raipur, a nearby suburb. Seven years passed with only occasional meetings with the brigadier, who was no longer in active service and was fighting his case in the civil courts. One day I received a message from him. The Supreme Court was to give the verdict on his case. And when I went on the appointed day, apart from other settings, there, outside the imposing Supreme Court building, was the Brigadier, dressed in a dark blue suit, distributing sweets just as he had been seven years ago in the lota of water the cannibal aghori had placed before us.

Philosophy behind this: Aghoris are indifferent to everything. For them there is nothing good ,ideal or bad. Everything that exists in this world is essentially made up of same thing. Hence they utter obscenities, may take liqour, eat Dead human flesh and do other things which might appear to be 'uncivilised' to us.

We should respect the way chosen by these people for enlightenment. After all lord shiva is also an aghori, yes it was his another name. Many people think that aghori babas kill humans for their rituals, but there is no strong evidence for this. Since this sect has most of its rites and rituals a secret, we don’t have exact number of aghoris present in India, but you can always find few aghoris in the Kinaram aghori temple in Varanasi.

Hundreds of New Initiates to Hindu Holy order Perform Rituals on the Ganges

Hundreds of new initiates to Hindu holy order perform rituals on the Ganges

Photos chronicle the initiation of the mysterious ‘Naga Sadhus’, a  secretive Hindu sect
They undertake the ritual during Kumbh Mela, the largest gathering of people on Earth
The rite involves being covered in ash and takes place on the shores of the Ganga river
These intriguing photos show newly-initiated ‘Naga Sadhus’ perform rituals on the bank of the Ganga, or Ganges, River in the city of Allahabad in Uttar Pridesh, India, earlier today.

They were taken during Kumbh Mela, a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which the faithful gather at a sacred river for a bath. It is held every third year at one of the four places by rotation; Haridwar, Allahabad, Nasik and Ujjain.

It is the world’s largest gathering and around 80million people are expected to bathe in the river during the festival.

Revered: Newly initiated ‘Naga Sadhus’, Hindu holy men, perform rituals on the bank of the Ganga River during an Indian festival

The Naga Sadhus are highly secretive and have never divulged the details of their initiation processes
The men are taking part in the diksha, a ritual of initiation held by gurus, to become Naga Sadhus – holy men who have left behind all material attachments and live in caves, forests and temples all over India and Nepal.

There are an estimated five million sadhus in India today and they are widely respected for their holiness. It is also thought that the austere practices of the sadhus help to burn off their karma and that of the community at large.
There are many different types of Sadhus. Naga Sadhus are known for stripping naked and covering themselves in ash.

The Naga control the religious affairs at the world’s biggest gathering and have the right to remain naked. Naga is derived from the Sanskrit for naked, ‘nagna’.

The Kumbh Mela attracts Indians from all over the vast country,
 as well as Hindus from other nations

The festival is the largest gathering in the world and is held every three years. An estimated 80million people will bathe in the water throughout the event

 

The ritual is ancient, but that doesn’t stop the zealots using modern technology to capture the event and make themselves heard
The Naga order is a highly secretive and closed group. Its initiation and rites are not made known to the public.

This year, for the first time ever, women from the Naga holy order have won the right to have their own separate camp at the Kumbh Mela.

Called the Juna Sannyasini Akhara, or the Juna Nuns’ Order, the women have their own symbolising, an anointed leader and a separate enclosure at the event.

Hinduism is the biggest religion of the Indian subcontinent, and includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Śrauta, among numerous other traditions. It is not so much a rigid set of beliefs but an amalgamation of practices, cultures and spiritual beliefs.

The holy men walk hand-in-hand to the river before the ceremony begins

Faith: The diksha, or ritual of initiation, attracts followers of all ages and backgrounds

Ramana Maharshi: Biography

In I896 a sixteen-year-old schoolboy walked out on his family and, driven by an inner compulsion, slowly made his way to Arunachala, a holy mountain and pilgrimage centre in South India. On his arrival he threw away all his money and possessions and abandoned himself to a newly-discovered awareness that his real nature was formless, immanent consciousness. His absorption in this awareness was so intense that he was completely oblivious of his body and the world; insects chewed away portions of his legs, his body wasted away because he was rarely conscious enough to eat and his hair and fingernails grew to unmanageable lengths.

After two or three years in this state he began a slow return to physical normality, a process that was not finally completed for several years. His awareness of himself as consciousness was unaffected by this physical transition and it remained continuous and undimmed for the rest of his life. In Hindu parlance he had `realized the Self’; that is to say, he had realized by direct experience that nothing existed apart from an indivisible and universal consciousness which was experienced in its unmanifest form as beingness or awareness and in its manifest form as the appearance of the universe.

Normally this awareness is only generated after a long and arduous period of spiritual practice but in this case it happened spontaneously, without prior effort or desire. Venkataraman, the sixteen-year-old schoolboy, was alone in an upstairs room of his uncle’s house in Madurai (near the southern tip of India) when he was suddenly gripped by an intense fear of death.

In the following few minutes he went through a simulated death experience during which he became consciously aware for the first time that his real nature was imperishable and that it was unrelated to the body, the mind or the personality. Many people have reported similar unexpected experiences but they are almost invariably temporary. In Venkataraman’s case the experience was permanent and irreversible. From that time on his consciousness of being an individual person ceased to exist and it never functioned in him again.

Venkataraman told no one about his experience and for six weeks he kept up the appearance of being an ordinary schoolboy. However, he found it an increasingly difficult posture to maintain and at the end of this six week period he abandoned his family and went directly to the holy mountain of Arunachala.

The choice of Arunachala was far from random. Throughout his brief life he had always associated the name of Arunachala with God and it was a major revelation to him when he discovered that it was not some heavenly realm but a tangible earthly entity. The mountain itself had long been regarded by Hindus as a manifestation of Siva, a Hindu God, and in later years Venkataraman often said that it was the spiritual power of Arunachala which had brought about his Self-realization. His love for the mountain was so great that from the day he arrived in I896 until his death in I950 he could never be persuaded to go more than two miles away from its base.

After a few years of living on its slopes his inner awareness began to manifest as an outer spiritual radiance. This radiance attracted a small circle of followers and, although he remained silent for most of the time, he embarked upon a teaching career. One of his earliest followers, impressed by the evident saintliness and wisdom of the young man, decided to rename him Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi – Bhagavan means Lord or God, Sri is an Indian honorific title, Ramana is a contraction of Venkataraman and Maharshi means `great seer’ in Sanskrit. The name found favor with his other followers and it soon became the title by which he became known to the world.

At this stage of his life Sri Ramana was speaking very little and so his teachings were transmitted in an unusual fashion. Instead of giving out verbal instructions he constantly emanated a silent force or power which stilled the minds of those who were attuned to it and occasionally even gave them a direct experience of the state that he himself was perpetually immersed in.

In later years he became more willing to give out verbal teachings, but even then, the silent teachings were always available to those who were able to make good use of them. Throughout his life Sri Ramana insisted that this silent flow of power represented his teachings in their most direct and concentrated form. The importance he attached to this is indicated by his frequent statements to the effect that his verbal teachings were only given out to those who were unable to understand his silence.

As the years passed he became more and more famous. A community grew up around him, thousands of visitors flocked to see him and for the last twenty years of his life he was widely regarded as India’s most popular and revered holy man. Some of these thousands were attracted by the peace they felt in his presence, others by the authoritative way in which he guided spiritual seekers and interpreted religious teachings, and some merely came to tell him their problems.

Whatever their reasons for coming almost everyone who came into contact with him was impressed by his simplicity and his humbleness. He made himself available to visitors twenty-four hours a day by living and sleeping in a communal hall which was always accessible to everyone, and his only private possessions were a loin-cloth, a water-pot and a walking-stick. Although he was worshipped by thousands as a living God, he refused to allow anyone to treat him as a special person and he always refused to accept anything which could not be shared equally by everyone in his ashram.

He shared in the communal work and for many years he rose at 3 a.m. in order to prepare food for the residents of the ashram. His sense of equality was legendary. When visitors came to see him – it made no difference whether they were VIPs, peasants or animals – they would all be treated with equal respect and consideration. His egalitarian concern even extended to the local trees; he discouraged his followers from picking flowers or leaves off them and he tried to ensure that whenever fruit was taken from the ashram trees it was always done in such a way that the tree only suffered a minimum amount of pain.

Throughout this period (I925-50) the centre of ashram life was the small hall where Sri Ramana lived, slept and held court. He spent most of his day sitting in one corner radiating his silent power and simultaneously fielding questions from the constant flow of visitors who descended on him from every corner of the globe. He rarely committed his ideas to paper and so the verbal replies given out during this period (by far the most well documented of his life) represent the largest surviving source of his teachings.

These verbal teachings flowed authoritatively from his direct knowledge that consciousness was the only existing reality. Consequently, all his explanations and instructions were geared to

convincing his followers that this was their true and natural state. Few of his followers were capable of assimilating this truth in its highest and most undiluted form and so he often adapted his teachings to conform to the limited understanding of the people who came to him for advice. Because of this tendency it is possible to distinguish many different levels of his teachings.

At the highest level that could be expressed in words he would say that consciousness alone exists. If this was received with skepticism he would say that awareness of this truth is obscured by the self-limiting ideas of the mind and that if these ideas were abandoned then the reality of consciousness would be revealed. Most of his followers found this high-level approach a little too theoretical – they were so immersed in the self-limiting ideas that Sri Ramana was encouraging them to drop that they felt that the truth about consciousness would only be revealed to them if they underwent a long period of spiritual practice. To satisfy such people Sri Ramana prescribed an innovative method of self-attention which he called self-enquiry. He recommended this technique so often and so vigorously that it was regarded by many people as the most distinctive motif in his teachings.

Even then, many people were not satisfied and they would continue to ask for advice about other methods or try to engage him in theoretical philosophical discussions. With such people Sri Ramana would temporarily abandon his absolute standpoint and give appropriate advice on whatever level it was asked. If he appeared on these occasions to accept and endorse many of the misconceptions which his visitors had about themselves it was only to draw their attention to some aspect of his teachings that he felt would help them to better understand his real views.

Inevitably, this policy of modifying his teachings to meet the needs of different people led to many contradictions. He might, for example, tell one person that the individual self is non-existent and then turn to another person and give a detailed description of how the individual self functions, accumulates karma and reincarnates.

It is possible for an observer to say that such opposing statements may both be true when seen from different standpoints, but the former statement clearly has more validity when it is viewed from the absolute standpoint of Sri Ramana’s own experience. This standpoint, summarized by his statement that consciousness alone exists, is ultimately the only yardstick by which one can realistically assess the relative truth of his widely differing and contradictory statements. To whatever extent his other statements deviate from this it may be assumed that to that extent they are dilutions of the truth.





Source : from David Godman Book “be As You Are”  (Excellent Book on Ramana Maharshi Teachings)

Is Hinduism a Pagan Religion?

Lord : Brahma, Vishnu , Siva

Some American law-makers recently characterized Hinduism as pagan. This raises the question: is Hinduism a pagan religion?

The Abrahamic religious traditions, as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are collectively called, associate paganism with the worship of many gods, and their many idols. The former is condemned as polytheism and the latter as idolatry; and the two are viewed as inextricably intertwined forms of worship, which has been superseded in the aniconic monotheism and which these religions self-consciously uphold and propagate.

Hinduism at first blush appears to conform to paganism. It seems to worship many gods and seems to do so by worshipping different images. It thus comes across as polytheistic and idolatrous and therefore pagan. This perception fuels the missionary zeal of the Abrahamic religions to destroy such paganism.

There is only one problem with this scenario. It is based on a false presumption. It is true that there are many gods in Hinduism and that it abounds in image worship, but while these various gods are considered different gods in paganism as traditionally represented, in Hinduism they represent the various forms of the one and same God. Thus a plurality of gods does not denote polytheism in Hinduism but rather the plurality of the forms in which the same one God might appear. A new word such as polyformism may have to be coined, or an older word polymorphism may have to be invoked, to be set beside polytheism, to provide the corrective. The Hindu situation is characterized not by polytheism but what might be called at best “apparent polytheism,” because the reality underlying all the different gods is the reality of one God. Hence, ironically, the situation could also in a sense be described as one of “apparent monotheism,” in the sense that the one God appears in various forms.

Similarly, the various images of the various gods also reflect the same point. Any of the many forms, in which God might be seen as appearing, can be visually represented in Hinduism, as a way of focusing the mind on God. This should not be taken for some new-fangled apologetic exegetical sleight of hand performed by modern Hinduism. When the 17th century French traveler, Francois Bernier, was shocked by what he saw of Hinduism, this is how the pandits of Banaras explained the situation to him: “We have indeed in our temples a great variety of images. …To all these images we pay great honour; prostrating our bodies, and presenting to them, with much ceremony, flowers, rice, scented oil, saffron, and other similar articles. Yet we do not believe that these statues are themselves Brahma or Vishnu; but merely their images and representations. We show them deference only for the sake of the deity whom they represent, and when we pray it is not to the statue, but to that deity. Images are admitted in our temples because we conceive that prayers are offered up with more devotion when there is something before the eyes that fixes the mind, but in fact we acknowledge that God alone is absolute, that He only is the omnipotent Lord.’”


The explanation may not have convinced Bernier but Hindus apparently have no difficulty with it. Sometimes Abrahamic parents wonder whether this plurality does not end up leaving the Hindus confused, and particularly their children. For the Hindus, however, such plurality does not create any confusion of identity, no more than several pictures of us in our album, taken at different stages of our life and in different forms and dresses, causes us to become confused about our identity.

Thus no matter how paganesque Hinduism might appear, it is not pagan in the sense attributed to the word by Abrahamic religions. As a well-known scholar of Hinduism, who was also a missionary in India for a while, Klaus K. Klostermaier observes: “Many Hindu homes are lavishly decorated with color prints of a great many Hindu gods and goddesses, often joined by the gods and goddesses of other religions and the pictures of contemporary heroes. Thus side by side with Śiva and Viṣṇu and Devī one can see Jesus and Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Jīna Mahāvīra, Mahātmā Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and many others. But if questioned about the many gods even the illiterate villager will answer: bhagvān ek hai – the Lord is One. He may not be able to figure out in theological terms how the many gods and the one God hang together and he may not be sure about the hierarchy obtaining among the many manifestations, but he does know that ultimately there is only One and that the many somehow merge into the One.”

This then is the great difference between Hinduism and the Abrahamic religions. Monotheism in Abrahamic religions represents the denial of gods in God, while the monotheism of Hinduism represents the affirmation of gods in God. Failure to recognize this tempts the followers of Abrahamic religions into branding Hinduism as pagan.



Source: Mr Arvind Sharma

Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University, huffingtonpost.com

The Foreign Hindu Monks at India’s Kumbh Mela

JAMES MALLINSON

Sir James Mallinson is perhaps the only baronet to wear dreadlocks.

The fifth baronet of Walthamstow started growing his hair around the time he first travelled to India in 1988.
He had enrolled to study Sanskrit at Oxford University’s St Peter’s College because his only other option, Chinese, came with a “boring introduction”.

At the end of his trip to India, he “fell in” with a group of Hindu monks in Kashmir and became fascinated with their way of life.

 James Mallinson was renamed Jagdish Das by his order
In 1992, Sir James was initiated into a Hindu order with the monastic name of Jagdish Das at Ujjain in central India.

“I was kidnapped by some competing monks who wanted me as their student. Finally it was Ram Balak Das who got me initiated,” he says. Sir James received his doctorate – on a critical translation of a 14th Century Sanskrit text on yoga – in 2002 from Balliol College, Oxford.

In India, when not with Hindu monks, he runs a paragliding business in Bir in the western Himalayas.
Sir James was ordained a mahant, or abbot, of a Hindu religious order in early February at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.

His friend from Eton, actor Dominic West of The Wire fame, had wanted to make a documentary on his work in India. When Sir James offered his guru some money for the film crew’s fortnight-long stay, he was offered the post of mahant.

“The word translates more as a military commander than an abbot,” says the Sanskrit scholar.

VALERY VICTOROVICH MINTSEV

Valery Victorovich Mintsev had an experience at the age of six that he could not quite articulate.
But it was inspiring enough to make him stand on a rock and tell his puzzled young friends “the ways of the universe”.

It took the 46-year-old monk, who is the son of a Ukrainian typographer and Soviet Communist party member, another 10 years to “find the right words”. That was when he came upon the texts of Shankaracharya, an 8th Century Indian philosopher and Hindu revivalist.

Valery Victorovich MintsevValery Mintsev met a Hindu monk in 2006 who reinforced his ideas
While studying Cold War politics at the Kiev Higher Naval Political School, a belief that Russians and Indians are descended from the same Aryan ancestors became stronger.

“Why else do we have old Russian places named after Indian deities – like Ram and Sita lakes or Narada mountain?” asks Mr Mintsev.

A 2006 meeting with Pilot Baba, a Hindu monk who got his name because of his former career as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, reinforced his ideas. Three years ago, Mr Mintsev was initiated into a Hindu order with the monastic name of Vishnu Dev.

Later this year the Russian monk is planning to put up a Chinese-made, 18m (59ft) bronze statue of Dattatreya, the presiding deity of his sect, at his 1,000-acre retreat situated 600km (373 miles) east of Moscow. Why did he choose to be a Hindu monk? “I have searched for freedom all my life and I got it in Hindu philosophy. It must be a great connection from a past life,” is his explanation.

BABA RAMPURI

Baba Rampuri guards his personal history – his life before he came to India from the United States in 1970 – with a fierce zeal. Not even those who have known him for decades know his real name. What is known is that he came from California.

But when asked to comment on reports that he is the son of a Jewish plastic surgeon, he laughs and says, “maybe I was his daughter who had a sex change.”

NAGA BABA MARCH IN KHUMBMELA

Hindu naked holy men take part in a procession to the Sangam at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad The Kumbh festival is the world’s largest religious gathering
Whatever his antecedents, Baba Rampuri is today one of the most successful Hindu monks from the US.

Part of his popularity flows from being one of the first Westerners to be initiated into the secretive Juna order of monks, the largest of the 13 powerful sects that control religious affairs at the Kumbh festival.

The publication of his book Autobiography of a Sadhu: A Journey into Mystic India, later added to the mystery. In 2010, Baba Rampuri was made one of the three abbots of the order’s international chapter and today he is one of the very few Hindu monks raising funds through internet-based social media.


He derives his monastic lineage from Keshav Puri, a monk buried outside Multan in Pakistan who is also called Multani Baba or Shamshad Tapa Rez.

“He is called a pir, a Sufi saint. And Muslims wearing black sit with Hindus wearing orange at his memorial meetings,” says Baba Rampuri. So possibly there was an undercurrent of commonness between the faiths that we deny today.”

The belief is shared within his order but, like Baba Rampuri’s own past, the real history is shrouded in mystery because of a lack of verifiable evidence.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk